Owen Jacques is an award-winning investigative journalist from Mackay, now based on the Sunshine Coast as APN Australian Regional Media’s Online News Editor. He has a strong background reporting on politics, business and breaking news. Owen has also specialised in resources reporting, which included a successful campaign to fight 100% fly-in, fly-out mining in rural Queensland towns.

A witness, who asked to remain anonymous, told CBC's French-language service Radio-Canada that two masked individuals entered the mosque.

"It seemed to me that they had a Quebecois accent. They started to fire, and as they shot they yelled, 'Allahu Akbar!' The bullets hit people that were praying. People who were praying lost their lives. A bullet passed right over my head," said the witness.

"There were even kids. There was even a three-year-old who was with his father."

Two people have been arrested over the shooting, a Québec police spokesman said. One was apprehended after a chase that ended near l'île d'Orléans, a bridge which connects the island to the mainland.

Québec Police said on its Twitter account that "there are deaths and wounded suspects were arrested". Police later said that the situation was "under control" as investigations continued.

Québec Premier Philippe Couillard said in French on his Twitter account that the mosque attack was an "act of terrorism".

"Québec categorically rejects this barbaric violence. Our solidarity is with victims, the injured and their families," Couillard said, adding that police were making their priority to fight "terrorism" to ensure the safety of its people.

Quebec City Islamic Cultural Centre President Mohamed Yangui reported the number of dead late Sunday in a telephone call from the provincial capital.

Yangui said the shooting happened in the men's section of the mosque. He said five males had died and he worried that some were children. He said he wasn't at the centre when the attack occurred.

"We condemn this terrorist attack on Muslims in a centre of worship and refuge," he said in a statement.

"While authorities are still investigating and details continue to be confirmed, it is heart-wrenching to see such senseless violence. Diversity is our strength, and religious tolerance is a value that we, as Canadians, hold dear.

"Muslim-Canadians are an important part of our national fabric, and these senseless acts have no place in our communities, cities and country. Canadian law enforcement agencies will protect the rights of all Canadians, and will make every effort to apprehend the perpetrators of this act and all acts of intolerance."

Earlier, police put up a security perimeter around the mosque and declined to comment to reporters about the incident.

"Why is this happening here? This is barbaric," said the mosque's president, Yangui said.

"I managed to talk to people inside. They told me there were at least five deaths and that the person managed to reload his weapon at least three times."

In June 2016, a pig's head was left on the doorstep of the cultural centre. Yangui, who was not inside the mosque when the shooting occurred, said he got frantic calls from people at evening prayers.

He did not know how many were injured, saying they had been taken to different hospitals across Québec City, the capital city of Québec, which has a predominately French-speaking population.

The mosque has about 5000 members and is one of six in the Québec City region.

Incidents of Islamophobia increased in Québec in recent years amid a political debate over banning the niqab, or Muslim face covering. In 2013, police investigated after a mosque in the Saguenay region of Québec was splattered with what was believed to be pig blood.

In the neighbouring province of Ontario, a mosque was set on fire in 2015, a day after an attack by gunmen and suicide bombers in Paris.

Zebida Bendjeddou, who left the mosque earlier on Sunday, said the centre had received threats.

"In June, they'd put a pig's head in front of the mosque. But we thought: 'Oh, they're isolated events.' We didn't take it seriously. But tonight, those isolated events, they take on a different scope," she said.

The shooting comes after Canada said it would offer temporary residency permits to travellers stranded in the country by US President Donald Trump's order banning travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations.

Like France, Quebec has struggled at times to reconcile its secular identity with a rising Muslim population, many of them being North African emigrants.

EARLIER: Two people have been arrested after a shooting at a Mosque in Quebec, Reuters reports.

An eyewitness reportedly saw heavily armed tactical response police entering the building however Police refused to comment on whether there were still more gunmen inside.